Creating eCommerce Content That Sells

eCommerce item content can make or break your brand. It’s also one of the easiest things to get wrong. If you’re new to the eCommerce space or are looking for ways to drive more sales on your current business, start with these seven proven content tips to get the best results.

1. Go Beyond Your Label

Too often, brands try to replicate the packaging experience online. They transfer ingredients, weights, sizes, and regulatory information verbatim from the label into their product listing. While this information is important, it isn’t what’s going to differentiate your brand from the sea of competition.

Instead of recreating your label, use precious listing space to separate your brand from the hundreds of other brands fighting for the sale. Start by asking yourself these questions:

WHAT’S truly special about your design or features? Compare to the top search results to ensure that your assumptions hold.

HOWwill these attributes improve life for your shopper? Tell them what will happen — “You’ll forget that you’re eating kelp!”

WHO are you as a brand and why should the shopper care? Was the recipe for your tomato sauce passed down from your great-grandmother? Did you think up the idea for your granola bar while on a hiking expedition with your family? While it’s important to include the “basics” (how much is included, etc.), focus your content creation efforts on whatever factors makes your item compelling, personal, and unique. These stories and details will help you stand out and ultimately drive sales.

2. Win the Whole Listing

To start, remember that you need to drive sessions as well as conversion - your 300 words of killer copy won’t be seen if you don’t first earn the click. Conversion can be influenced by just about anything, but sessions (visits) are influenced by what the shopper sees in their search results. That typically includes the main product image, the product title, and the price. Make sure that these three elements work together to create enough of a “hook” to draw the shopper in. If you can’t win the click, nothing else matters.

Your next priority should be “above the fold” content, or content that your shopper will see before they scroll down the page. Make sure to customize this content for mobile and desktop shoppers. It should allow the shopper to answer the question: “is this right for me?”

If the shopper does scroll down the page, your item has probably made it to the consideration round. At this point, you need to close the deal by reinforcing your key differentiators in an appealing way. This is where enhanced content (known as EBC / A+ on Amazon) comes into play. Is the fact that you’re a gluten-free shortbread cookie a key differentiator? If so, don’t be afraid to repeat it here.

Finally, choose every word wisely - stay away from points that aren’t true priorities. Your job isn’t to give the shopper every piece of data about the product, but rather to give them the right information and inspiration to buy.

3. Craft Clear, Scannable, Benefit-Driven Copy

There are more compelling ways to communicate things like nutritional value and premium ingredients than transcribing them from the label. Creating benefit-driven copy allows you to touch on key differentiators within the context of your shoppers' needs and challenges. Help shoppers connect the dots between item specs and how they will impact their lives. As an example, consider Clif Bar’s Amazon listing description below:

Along with being benefit-driven, this description is also clear and “scannable.” In other words, shoppers can quickly glance at the copy and identify key selling points. By using bullet points, caps, and other scannable text formats, you can draw attention to key differentiators without sacrificing simplicity. As you create your bullet points, don’t forget to consider order. The best listings will declare the benefit, explain how it’s delivered, and then circle back and reinforce the benefit in a different way.

4. Do More with Images

Boring brands show images of their item’s packaging. Exciting brands tell a story through their images and aren’t afraid to experiment with different visual approaches.

To transform your photos into stories, include high-quality images of the ingredients or materials used to make your item. If the people who make your item or the locations from which ingredients are sourced are important to your product, include visuals to show the shopper. Don’t be afraid to show images of your product being used but be careful with "lifestyle imagery." When used properly, it can provide great context and enhance your equity - when it isn't, it can dull your message.

Retailers often have strict requirements for the main product image (for example, they may require images with a white background), but don’t let those requirements limit your creativity when it comes to the rest of your images. Using a variety of graphical approaches (while staying on brand) can make your listing more compelling and help tell your brand’s story. For example, superimposing relevant text onto an ingredient image can help lend context to the picture. Remember that there are different types of learners (some who like to read, and others who are more visually-oriented) and make an effort to appeal to both groups.

Images don’t have to be about the product specs and ingredients. Need an infographic to show how your heartburn medicine neutralizes acid? Throw it in there! Want shoppers to know that your olive oil is preferred by professional chefs? Include a picture from the chef’s kitchen and superimpose her testimonial!

Product images from Amazon.com

Product images from Amazon.com

Finally, make sure that your chosen hero image is mobile-friendly. Some brands are taking this to new levels by editing their packaging image to highlight key elements (removing copy that won’t earn the click or close the deal). In the examples below, Power Bar is going big and bold with enlarged ingredient visuals and bar count, and Richmond wants to be absolutely sure shoppers know how many sausage are in that pack.

Product images from Amazon.com

5. Be Smart with Product Titles

It’s easy to get hyper-focused on your listing page content and forget about how important the title is. For years, brands have treated titles as repositories for SEO terms and overloaded them in an effort to earn higher SEO rankings. Don’t be tempted by this approach — it doesn’t work like it used to. While it’s important to consider the SEO value of your title, it should also be something that’s easily read and understood by a human audience (remember that you have to earn that click!).

Creating good titles is more of a science than an art. It requires discipline and a thorough understanding of your category. Rather than trying to get too creative, build a title structure that fits with category norms and allows shoppers to quickly sort through your offerings. Key title attributes usually include:

Your brand name

The item category (SEO term)

Flavor, color, or scent

Size

Count

Before deciding how to name your category or flavor, do some SEO research to determine what words are driving traffic to your competitors’ listings. You can also look at product reviews and questions to understand how customers are talking about a category and what words they’re using. Finally, your retailer may have rules that specify how your title can be structured and length - make sure you've reviewed these.

When you put all these elements together into a listing title, it will look something like this:

Once you decide on your title convention, make sure that all the listings you create follow suit. This consistency will make it easier for shoppers to compare items and sizing options (in search results or on your brand store) to find exactly what they’re looking for. It will also make it easier for you to maintain content for your growing eCommerce portfolio.

6. Drive Consistency Across Listings

In addition to using title conventions, it’s important to keep your content and copy format consistent across all of your listings. Shoppers will probably look at two or three of your items before making a purchase. If each of your listings uses a different content approach, then you’re forcing the shopper to do extra work to compare options.

Creating a content template to use during the drafting process is a great way to guarantee that you don’t deviate from your ideal structure over time. It will also help you be more deliberate in evolving your approach. In the template, lay out guidelines for what each bullet point should cover. For example, bullet number one could always talk about flavor, bullet number two could speak to your special ingredients, bullet number three could speak to the health benefits of those ingredients, and so on. If you decide to make changes to your template over time, make sure to update older listings.

7. Test, Listen, and Optimize

In the words of the famous Enlightenment writer Voltaire, “the best is the enemy of the good.” Don’t let your fear of making a mistake paralyze you — speed and efficiency are critical in eCommerce. Launch your listing, learn from in-market results, and continue to fine-tune your way to greatness as you learn more.

Sales results are one way to gauge if your listing is successful, but they’re not the only way to learn. Consider A/B testing as a more precise way to optimize your listing approach. One by one, you can test and compare the performance of different visuals, copy, and even SEO strategies. When done correctly, this approach can be a true competitive advantage. If it earns you a fraction of a percent improvement each month, you’ll be well on your way to massive future sales!

As you look for areas of improvement, don’t forget to pay attention to shopper feedback. Read product reviews and questions and revise your approach based on that insight. Over time, your listing should become a “conversation” between your brand and shoppers.

Make sure you have an efficient way to get notified of shopper feedback and responding in a timely manner. Believe it or not, your responses to shopper concerns and questions (which can be displayed on your listings) are an important part of your brand’s content.

The Bottom Line

The more time you spend creating eCommerce content and reviewing your competitors’ content, the more insight you’ll have into what works and what doesn’t. What seems difficult today will soon become intuitive. That said, remember that there’s always more to know. Don’t be afraid to experiment and build on your lessons learned.